AUDION
MAGAZINE
Audion #26
November 1993 A4
40 pages
|
|
AMP RECORDS - Electronic Evening
27/6/93 |
£3.00
original (last 110
copies)
|
UK £4.90 |
Europe £8.35 |
World £9.40 |
|
Example
article extract ARTHUR BROWN One of the most enigmatic and fascinating characters in British rock is the extraordinary Arthur Brown, a unique and visionary performer, a major force in helping to shape the cutting edge of rock and new-music for well over two decades: from his immortal 60's hit Fire, via one of the most revolutionary of 70's progressives Kingdom Come, to the present day, with a UK tour that I'm sure surprised everyone. Origins of "the god of hell-fire" Originally from Whitby in Yorkshire, Arthur's family moved to Cardiff, where he spent his early teens getting into R&B and becoming involved with local jazz bands. Right from the start his passion was for singing. So, whilst studying philosophy at Reading University in the early-60's, Arthur also took classical singing lessons. He also played bass in an amateur school band and formed his own R&B outfit: Blues & Brown. The only recorded document that survives from this era is a 1963 Reading Rag Mag flexi-disc by the Black Diamonds, featuring Arthur on the track You don't know, singing in a very soulful manner. In fact, as with Chris Farlowe, Arthur Brown has been quoted as having such an authentic soul-style that some people thought he was black! In
the mid-60's Arthur began to gain a reputation for his eccentricity, and
talent to sing almost any kind of music. It was inevitable that he would move
to 'where the action is', namely London with its bustling thriving
underground and club scene. He fronted a band called The Southwest Five, and
later his own band The Arthur Brown Union, who changed into the less original
named Arthur Brown Set. He also played a residency at the Moulin Rouge in
Paris, and worked with other bands before returning to London in autumn 1966.
The name of Arthur's band obviously grew out of their reputation for
eccentric stage performances, theatrical makeup, outrageous clothes, and a
music that combines rock, soul, blues, poetry, theatre and satire, with great
imagination. The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown officially came into being in
early-67, and were promptly spotted by The Who's Pete Townsend, who managed
to secure them a contract with Track Records. Obviously a friendship grew out
of this as Arthur was later featured in the film version of The Who's
ambitious rock-opera "Tommy". The
story goes that what turned out to be The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown was
actually organist Vincent Crane's band! But, the dominant and powerful
character that he is, Arthur was soon in control, developing a unique new
form of pop music. The first attempt at a hit single, Devil's Grip, failed to catch the public attention, and come to
think of it I don't ever recall hearing it (apparently it features
Colosseum's Jon Hiseman on drums) and it's now a rare collectors item. Their
second single however, was to propel Arthur Brown to international stardom,
an edited version of a track from their debut LP, the single Fire was a top 5 hit. I can still
recall vaguely, a bizarre character on "Top Of The Pops"
proclaiming to be the 'god of hell-fire' amidst flames and strange visuals.
The image was powerful and it caught the public attention. Originally, The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown featured one Drachen Theaker on drums, his origins were in jazz, and because he was always searching for new adventures in music, he left and returned to the Crazy World on several occasions. The line-up of their debut LP (in addition to Brown, Crane and Theaker) was completed by bassist Sean Nicholas (who apparently worked as a session musician under many guises, most notably as Nick Greenwood with the Steve Hillage band Khan). Admittedly
THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN was not that great an album, now seeming very
dated and far too overproduced. The original LP was intended as something
quite different, but producer Kit Lambert insisted on adding brass and
orchestral arrangements, and cut out some of the albums more bizarre
sections. There are still moments of genius however, most notably the segued
sequence of tracks that covered most of side one, including the track Fire surrounded by more dramatic
theatrical pieces. In attempting to create a chart topping pop album Kit
insisted on several tracks being re-recorded numerous times. Apparently two
of the tracks featured John Marshall on drums instead of Drachen, though he
gains no credit on the cover. It
was obvious that being with a pop label was far too restricting. Plans for a
second album with Track never materialised. Nightmare was culled from the LP as a new single, with an
original new track What's happening? on
the b-side. This is the only recorded Crazy World track to feature Carl
Palmer on drums. Later he and Vincent Crane were to form Atomic Rooster, who
developed the heavy edge of the Crazy World further. Of course Carl Palmer
was later to reveal his instrumental talents to the full with Emerson Lake
& Palmer. At this time Arthur Brown was hot media property, gaining a lot of publicity on TV and also recording sessions with Crazy World for John Peel's "Top Gear" radio show. But, with the band falling apart around him and seemingly little chance of another album with Track Records, he, Drachen and other like-minded friends retreated to Puddletown in Dorset. Initially, this version of the band gained the nickname The Puddletown Express. Together with Brown and Theaker, the line-up included jazzer George Khan (a much travelled winds player also known for his work with the Battered Ornaments and much later with Brian Godding in Mirage), the curiously named Android Funnel (actually one Andy Rickell) on guitar, and various other musicians. So, after a tour of France, Crazy World #2 spent several; weeks during autumn 1969 recording what was eventually to be released by Reckless Records in 1988 as STRANGELANDS. We were lead to believe that this is the album that lead to the cancellation of the contract with Track Records. What the record company wanted was a follow-up to Fire, but Arthur was now trying to lose that image, and STRANGELANDS contained nothing that could be marketed as a single! The new Crazy World were a much more inventive and radical outfit, with a music that matched the strangeness of Arthur's lyrics, veering off to bizarre surreal satire and psychedelic space music. You can read a review of this extraordinary album back in Audion #9 (page 14). Rustic misfits initial idea was to attempt a solo career, yet that was not to be, and instead he got together a new band. In the meantime, the core of Crazy World had become involved in a loose alliance with High Tide members (who'd also retreated to Puddletown after being dropped by United Artists), recording sessions under the guise of Rustic Hinge. Drachen Theaker's idea was to develop the ideas he'd gained after meeting Captain Beefheart in France a few years earlier. He also wanted Arthur to be involved, but wisely he declined, not wanting to be billed as a Beefheart copyist. The demos and jam sessions they recorded eventually surfaced as the album REPLICAS (and subsequently used as filler material on the CD version of STRANGELANDS), not great quality recordings, but musically inspired and astounding. REPLICAS had the spirit of Captain Beefheart's MIRROR MAN, the energy of High Tide and the strangeness of Third Ear Band. Since
those heady days in Puddletown, Drachen has been quite active on the music
scene, he's worked extensively with Indian musicians, also often with High
Tide and his own revolutionary fusion outfit Hazchem. Kingdom Come It's ironic really, that the label who signed up Arthur's new band: Kingdom Come were none other than Polydor, the distributors of Track Records! The
original incarnation of Kingdom Come included such people as guitarist Dave
Ambrose (ex-Brian Auger) and the ex-Arcadium members Mike "Goodge"
Harris and Bob Ellwood. The line-up in these days was in a constant state of
flux, often with up to ten members appearing on stage at some concerts, and
had changed almost entirely by the time of recording their debut album
GALACTIC ZOO DOSSIER. Only organist Mike Harris remained, and Arthur had
found a great foil for his theatrical antics in Andy Dalby (on guitar and
vocals) who became the only other constant member throughout. The rest of the
band consisted of Julian Brown (as one of the earliest synthesists, playing
VCS3), Desmond Fisher (bass) and Martin "Slim" Steer (drums). The early formative days of Kingdom Come are immortalised really vividly in the "Glastonbury Fayre" documentary film, with a nightmarish show of devastating music and theatre. The band almost exuded an insane frenzy that totally bewildered the audience. The stage was set for the phenomenal Kingdom Come debut album, the curiously titled GALACTIC ZOO DOSSIER. A revolutionary and bizarre musical concept, it was also a blatant stab at society, politics, religion, etc. You name it, Arthur flips it on its head, dissects it, ridicules it. Lyrically powerful, yes, and also extremely inventive musically, so much so that it's hard to tell where the music will go from one moment to the next. GALACTIC ZOO DOSSIER combines the daring of The Mothers Of Invention with the cutting-edge of British psychedelia. etc.... |